Less than 2% of high-school athletes separate themselves to be able to go play for a Division 1 school, meaning it takes a different kind of athlete to get to that elite level of competition.

Brownstown Central junior Micah Sheffer made his decision to commit to play golf at Purdue University last week and will be joining one of his good friends and Brownstown 2024 graduate Jack Benter in West Lafayette.

The Braves No. 1 golfer spoke about the opportunity to play for the Boilermakers.

“It means a lot, growing up I’ve always been a huge IU fan, I honestly would have never seen myself ending up at Purdue,” Sheffer said. “As time went on, I started looking at possible colleges and my friend (Jack) recently went to play basketball there (Purdue). I spoke with their golf coach, and he was super nice. They’ve been a successful program in the Big Ten.”

Sheffer will be the third boys’ golfer to play Division I golf from Brownstown Central as he joins some serious company in 2002-03 Indiana High School Athletic Association State Champion Chris Baker (Iowa State) and 1993-94 IHSAA State-Runner Up Josh Brewer (Indiana).

Purdue is coming off two of its best seasons in school history, reaching the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship this year and a spot in top 40 in the final regular-season rankings and making a regional appearance in 2023.

Boilermakers Head Coach Andrew Sapp is beginning his first season in 2024-25 as head coach. When Sheffer arrives, it will Sapp’s third season.

“The people are super nice, and the facilities are amazing,” Sheffer said. “It’s a perfect fit for me and the atmosphere is nice. I honestly feel like I am welcome there.”

The junior spoke about competing at the highest level in collegiate golf. It is more, however, than just golf to Sheffer, who is thinking about his long-term future as well.

“It’s just such a big opportunity to compete at the highest level against the best-of-the-best,” Sheffer said. “I also think it can help me down the road in life. Business is something I would like to get into, and like in business, if you want to be the best businessman you have to compete with the best.”

The Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex is a two-course facility at Purdue. Named Kampen-Cosler, and Ackerman-Allen, both are Pete Dye-designed courses.

Sheffer is excited to call the complex his home golf facility in the future.

“I’ve played at them quite a bit for tournaments,” Sheffer said. “They’re beautiful and two of the nicest courses in Indiana. They’re well-kept and it is a good track, they really make you think and make you play some strategic golf out there.”

It takes plenty of extra practice and hard work to get to this level of athletics. Sheffer has spent many mornings chipping, putting, hitting balls, doing whatever is necessary to improve his golf game, especially since he plays football and basketball for the Braves in the fall and winter. He spoke about why he believes he’s had so much success.

“My dedication, discipline and work ethic, those three things have helped me out a bunch,” Sheffer said. “Especially playing three sports and not having all the time to just go play golf.”

Brownstown Boys’ golf Head Coach Brent Hattabaugh was asked the same question about why Sheffer is successful on the course.

“Micah’s preparation and course management allows him to have success on any type of course,” Hattabaugh said. His work ethic separates him from other players and he’s always up in the mornings hitting balls and working on his game.”

The coach was asked about Micah’s growth as a high school player at Brownstown.

“Micah has grown as a leader over the past two years,” Hattabaugh said. “He is always helping the younger players get better.”

Sheffer is a team-player according to the golf coach.

“Even with all the success Micah has had as an individual he still thinks about the team first,” he said. “That just shows what kind of character he has.”

Sheffer was asked if he had any advice for younger kids who might not think it’s possible to be a collegiate athlete in a smaller town.

“If you work at it hard enough, you can achieve it,” Sheffer said. “Even if you’re not the most athletic, strongest or smartest, if you work hard at it, you’ll become even better than you ever could have imagined. That would be my best advice. Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

It was not even a thought for Sheffer, who has always preferred the sport of golf instead of the gridiron or basketball court.

“Golf has always been the love of my life,” the junior said. “Growing up, I liked basketball and football a ton. I used to think it was kind of a chore to go play golf with dad, but then around my eighth-grade year I started to enjoy it more with him. Then I truly fell in love with it about two years ago. Now there is nothing I would rather do than go out there and play 18 holes with my friends or in a tournament. It brings me so much joy.”

Sheffer has looked at the sport in many different views.

In golf, there is nobody to blame but yourself, and you must hold yourself accountable, Sheffer said. “I think that’s a lot about what life is, not many people will take the blame for you, so you have to be accountable for yourself.”

The golfer is planning to major in something in business.

For now, Sheffer still has a football season with the undefeated and No. 2-ranked team in Class 2A. After that comes another hoop campaign this winter after the greatest season for Brownstown Central boys’ basketball in history, winning their first state championship with his friend Jack Benter.